First ER Visit
I have to start this post with an aside- to give you some perspective. Many years ago, I was with my good friends and their first son who was about 2. We were playing in the living room when their son sat up on the arm of their leather couch and proceeded to slip off and hit the floor head first.
I have never been so mortified or see something happen in such slow motion and feel so helpless in my life. He was ok, but the experience scarred me and I have never let Naomi anywhere near the arm of any couch.
Fast forward to July 30th, 6pm. It seems our time had come to have a similar incident.
Our family decided to end our Florida vacation at a local Japanese Hibachi Restaurant and as we sat and waited to be seated, Naomi kneeling on a bench proceeded to do the same topple over to hit the ground head first.
Now, watching someone else's child is pretty mortifying. To watch someone else's child you care about deeply is even more mortifying. All of this is compounded by the way if you are mother, for some reason it's more painful, I can't explain it.
But for it to be your own child is just beyond words to explain.
All kinds of horrible thoughts- did she fracture her skull, did she fall on her teeth, is she bleeding (that's mine- for some reason I equate blood with seriousness, which is not at all a proper indicator).
And to scoop up your screaming child hoping this is just a bump on the head, you can't lose it.
So outside you are doing the "You're okay, you're okay. Let me see. Can you look at me? Blink your eyes twice? What's the square root of 49?" The standard questions to determine a concussion.
But inside you are doing the "Oh My God- My kid just hit the floor!!! Holy Crap! What the hell just happened??!!" well- mine has a few more expletives.
And there Was blood btw, from her nose. I couldn't determine if she had hit her nose so of course I am definitely worried now thinking she's bleeding internally from hitting the floor. (all of my medical friends are laughing right now- how that isn't really possible...)
We determined at this point that hibachi was not that important and I took her to the car to calm her down. The family soon followed and we then debated whether we needed to take her into the ER.
Another aside- now as a parent, you don't want to overreact and yet you don't want to be that negligent parent either. So I call our pediatrician for advice while the car discusses the closest acute care or ER.
Right after all this, Naomi falls asleep. And our minimal knowledge of concussions, we saw this as a negative sign at which point we make a beeline for the ER.
Now the ER is an interesting place and if you have never had the experience of being in one, count yourself super lucky. It usually has some pretty long waits and it's just all around depressing. I watched a little crying girl in pain holding her arm (I assume she broke it) while her father sweating bullets and also trying not to freak out externally (but the trained eye you can see the internal freaking out...) and get his child registered and checked in.
Again, another aside- I am working on an idea that you can register yourself, your child or spouse in the ER by scanning your driver's license through a machine similar to what they use at video game arcades with the money card. It's too much that I have to explain what happened to my kid without losing it on top of filling out some form and providing my insurance information.
Needless to say shortly after we arrived and had her vitals checked. Naomi started to come around to her normal self. We were put in a special queue for kids and went out to wait. In the kids area, was a little play house and she proceeded to play in there- which I'm sure to the nurse looked a bit well- not like "a kid who just fell on her head".
Luckily the ER visit was only an hour and half in total. (Excellent administration.. and not too busy)
And she was released with a clean bill of health and just a small bump on the head. I have never been so relieved in my life.
The hardest part after this was to see my step-daughters. I think this is the first time I have seen them distressed over their little sister and their compassion for her was overwhelming. I wanted to hug them and thank them for their concern, but I didn't want to weird them out with my over emotional gesture.
The event was stressful but a clear reminder how much we value our children. At 2, you question their survival at times- not just because they are more daring and accident prone but because they test your temper at least 40 times a day.
But also how much I value my step-daughters and their growing emotional maturity. Although they are not mine by birth, I see elements of myself in them when I was their age.
It takes a lot in all of this to practice the zen philosophy. It's more natural for me to freak out and cuss. So I am taking a lot of deep breaths. A Lot. And hugging my kid helps too.
I have never been so mortified or see something happen in such slow motion and feel so helpless in my life. He was ok, but the experience scarred me and I have never let Naomi anywhere near the arm of any couch.
Fast forward to July 30th, 6pm. It seems our time had come to have a similar incident.
Our family decided to end our Florida vacation at a local Japanese Hibachi Restaurant and as we sat and waited to be seated, Naomi kneeling on a bench proceeded to do the same topple over to hit the ground head first.
Now, watching someone else's child is pretty mortifying. To watch someone else's child you care about deeply is even more mortifying. All of this is compounded by the way if you are mother, for some reason it's more painful, I can't explain it.
But for it to be your own child is just beyond words to explain.
All kinds of horrible thoughts- did she fracture her skull, did she fall on her teeth, is she bleeding (that's mine- for some reason I equate blood with seriousness, which is not at all a proper indicator).
And to scoop up your screaming child hoping this is just a bump on the head, you can't lose it.
So outside you are doing the "You're okay, you're okay. Let me see. Can you look at me? Blink your eyes twice? What's the square root of 49?" The standard questions to determine a concussion.
But inside you are doing the "Oh My God- My kid just hit the floor!!! Holy Crap! What the hell just happened??!!" well- mine has a few more expletives.
And there Was blood btw, from her nose. I couldn't determine if she had hit her nose so of course I am definitely worried now thinking she's bleeding internally from hitting the floor. (all of my medical friends are laughing right now- how that isn't really possible...)
We determined at this point that hibachi was not that important and I took her to the car to calm her down. The family soon followed and we then debated whether we needed to take her into the ER.
Another aside- now as a parent, you don't want to overreact and yet you don't want to be that negligent parent either. So I call our pediatrician for advice while the car discusses the closest acute care or ER.
Right after all this, Naomi falls asleep. And our minimal knowledge of concussions, we saw this as a negative sign at which point we make a beeline for the ER.
Now the ER is an interesting place and if you have never had the experience of being in one, count yourself super lucky. It usually has some pretty long waits and it's just all around depressing. I watched a little crying girl in pain holding her arm (I assume she broke it) while her father sweating bullets and also trying not to freak out externally (but the trained eye you can see the internal freaking out...) and get his child registered and checked in.
Again, another aside- I am working on an idea that you can register yourself, your child or spouse in the ER by scanning your driver's license through a machine similar to what they use at video game arcades with the money card. It's too much that I have to explain what happened to my kid without losing it on top of filling out some form and providing my insurance information.
Needless to say shortly after we arrived and had her vitals checked. Naomi started to come around to her normal self. We were put in a special queue for kids and went out to wait. In the kids area, was a little play house and she proceeded to play in there- which I'm sure to the nurse looked a bit well- not like "a kid who just fell on her head".
Luckily the ER visit was only an hour and half in total. (Excellent administration.. and not too busy)
And she was released with a clean bill of health and just a small bump on the head. I have never been so relieved in my life.
The hardest part after this was to see my step-daughters. I think this is the first time I have seen them distressed over their little sister and their compassion for her was overwhelming. I wanted to hug them and thank them for their concern, but I didn't want to weird them out with my over emotional gesture.
The event was stressful but a clear reminder how much we value our children. At 2, you question their survival at times- not just because they are more daring and accident prone but because they test your temper at least 40 times a day.
But also how much I value my step-daughters and their growing emotional maturity. Although they are not mine by birth, I see elements of myself in them when I was their age.
It takes a lot in all of this to practice the zen philosophy. It's more natural for me to freak out and cuss. So I am taking a lot of deep breaths. A Lot. And hugging my kid helps too.
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